National Energy Strategy hits Energy Ministers Agenda:
3 DE Game Changers

• More energy output from our resources
• Longer lasting resource supplies
• Reduced emissions
• Reduced healthcare costs

Five mechanisms for achieving this are:

1. High performance buildings in sustainably built communities
2. Generate energy closer to the end user
3. Use a portfolio of locally available resources to generate energy
4. Value our waste streams as a revenue generating energy fuel (e.g. waste heat, sewage, MSW, agricultural/forestry/industrial waste stream etc.)
5. Strengthen national energy through integration

This strategy must consider the domestic value of improving our energy supply and delivery systems as well as protecting the international competitive advantage that we have worked so hard to establish.

Three key components for a successful Strategy in Canada are:

• Affordable energy
• Energy solutions for rural and remote communities
• Optimized industry integration

Affordable Energy for the People

Electricity prices continue to rise. Gas prices are volatile. The cost of energy will continue to rise and consumers will be putting more of their money into paying for these bills. A household is said to be in fuel poverty when they cannot afford the energy they need. The term is mainly used in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand but the concept applies to much of Eastern Europe and the United States. Canada’s vast supplies in energy resources have meant that the majority of the population has not experienced fuel poverty. However, if we look at communities in northern Canada the electricity bills are on average three times higher than the rest of the country. In the communities with extreme climates the real cost of electricity is extortionate (e.g., $2.67 per kilowatt-hour in Colville Lake, Northwest Territories, 2004). The rest of Canada is feeling the affect of rising energy costs and the pattern is certain to continue across the board. 

Three mechanisms for securing affordable energy are:

• Improving the built form in residential, commercial and industrial sectors
• On-site, high efficiency, energy generation close to the user
• Improved energy management and access to data

Energy to Rural and Remote Communities

According to IEA (2009) worldwide 1.456 billion people do not have access to electricity, of which 83% live in rural areas.

Here in Canada, 99.8% of our 10 million square kilometres are rural by area with 31.4% of Canada’s population (roughly 9 million people) live in predominantly rural regions. Towns under 10,000 account for 22.2% of the population.

Therefore, working towards clean, sustainable and affordable supply of energy for Canada’s rural and remote communities will increase standards of living for our rural and remote populations and will position Canada for competitive success in the international energy markets as other countries work towards solutions for clean, affordable and sustainable energy for their rural and remote populations.
Rural and remote communities present the greatest technical and economic challenges for project enablement.

Four key considerations for addressing these challenges are:

• Strengthened collaborative efforts with the First Nations Communities across Canada
• Corporate leadership from progressive energy industry businesses
• Advancements in micro-grid research and demonstration
• Advancements in energy storage research and demonstration

Strengthening National Energy through Integration

The whole country is evaluating the costs associated with updating electrical grid with an urgent need for transmission upgrades and to a lesser extent upgrading distribution or building distribution for new communities.

The timing has never been better for the country to look at how we can address the technical and financial challenges that we are facing in our future energy markets. Understanding the current limitations of our aging infrastructure is the first step to developing the national efforts.

The Strategy should consider three mechanisms for integration:

• Project enablement
• Collaborative policy design
• National energy employment initiatives

Project enablement across the country is required to support innovation and commercialization. Canada is poised for aggressive growth in the decentralized energy sector. Adequate market opportunity exists for on-site energy generation and there is a plethora of available technologies, but there is a distinct gap between the two. For some DE technologies, the gap is partly due to the fact that they are still in the diversification stage of market growth. However, many DE technologies, such as distribution-connected combined heat and power and geoexchange systems, are already in the market penetration stage of growth with clear market competitors. For these, there is a need for increased investment confidence through further technical validation.

We need a collaborative mindset in policy upgrades. In general, policy reform lags behind market development in Canada’s energy industry. The current pace of technology innovation and industry transformation is unprecedented. It is critical that the policy makers establish and maintain strong connections to the various industry stakeholders in this industry to ensure that progressive policies are supporting our success.

Employment programs are crucial. Over the next seven years, we will see nearly 50% of the energy industry workforce retire. The role of a national strategy should be to support the training a certification of a new generation of researchers, inventors, entrepreneurs and installers.

All three mechanisms rely on multi-sector collaboration. Co-creation is key to navigating through the industry transformation while maintaining business growth and profits. Co-creation bridges the gap between the energy technology consumer and the optimum technology solution. Understanding the needs of the consumer is as important as understanding the application and limitations of the technology solutions. Our energy future is built on a much broader range of technologies and applications. As we integrate the new systems into the traditional energy industry, co-creation is essential for successful industry transformation.